Express Checkout #27

Commerce news from the week of 5/29/2023

Author

Nate Rosen
June 05, 2023

Hello hello!

I am back from my wedding and it was an absolutely magical weekend that was worth every second of planning! ✨ 

Everything was perfect, from the beautiful venue to the amazing food, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience!

I am so grateful to have had the support of my loved ones and the incredible brands that participated in making the weekend so special.

I mean, just look at this welcome bags! Thank you to everyone who graciously shared their products with me and my guests.

Thank you all:

At the party I was lucky to have some of the best RTD cocktails on the market, Phreshly, to serve to my guests. Thank you, Paul!! (didn’t get to snap a pic!)

If you were sent this issue please consider subscribing! Now to the good stuff.

Express checkout interview with farmshare

This week I’m also launching a new segment, Express Interviews! Today I’m talking to Henry Arrowood, founder and CEO of Farmshare! Check it out 👉️ here 👈️ 

🔥 Big News - 10 items or less 🔥

  • Congrats Kiva and Madeline!! - Selva Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage consumer packaged goods companies, has closed its second fund at $34 million, with backing from Unilever Ventures, PagsGroup, and undisclosed CPG brand founders. The fund will be used for investments in health, wellness, beauty, and personal care. Selva Ventures targets brands generating under $10 million in annual revenues and with traction and has invested in 15 brands, including Crown Affair, OneSkin, and Cake. (source)

  • Patagonia sues again - Outdoor apparel brand Patagonia has filed a lawsuit against Nordstrom for allegedly selling thousands of counterfeit Patagonia items in their discount Nordstrom Rack stores. Patagonia claims the counterfeit apparel contains trademarks identical to the company's IP, and the garments themselves are identical to Patagonia shirts. (source)

    • Gap recently settled in a lawsuit Patagonia brought against the brand. (source)

  • Diddy is also suing - Sean "Diddy" Combs is suing Diageo for alleged racial discrimination in the handling of his Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila brands. Combs' lawyers is accusing Diageo of neglecting his brands and marginalizing their appeal. Combs is seeking a court order for "equal treatment" and "billions of dollars in damages due to Diageo's neglect and breaches" via separate legal proceedings. (source)

  • Canned wine brand gets acquired - E. & J. Gallo Winery has acquired Bev, a woman-founded canned wines and spritzer brand. The acquisition comes two years after Gallo obtained exclusive U.S. distribution rights for Bev. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. (source)

  • Campbell Soup owned a nut company?? - Flagstone Foods has acquired Emerald Nuts from Campbell Soup Company. Flagstone Foods is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of private label snack nuts and trail mixes in North America, and operates three plants, located in North Carolina, Texas, and Alabama. (source)

  • CPG fintech is a tough game - CircleUp, a fintech company that provides financing and data and analytics for CPG/consumer brands, has been acquired by Brightflow AI. The acquisition will combine CircleUp's machine learning capabilities with Brightflow AI's financial intelligence platform to create a comprehensive solution for consumer companies. CircleUp has supplied over $1 billion in capital to over 500 consumer companies, including Beyond Meat and Halo Top. (source)

🗞️ News from the week (5/15/23 - 5/21/23)

🛍 Retail

  • ALDI has launched a new convenience delivery offering called ALDI Express, powered by Instacart, that delivers nearly 2,000 of the most-shopped ALDI items in as fast as 30 minutes. ALDI Express is now available to customers from 2,100+ ALDI locations across the US. (source)

  • Wegmans has closed its Natick Mall location in Massachusetts due to a lack of traffic. The Natick store's 365 employees are being offered positions at other Wegmans locations. The chain operates five other stores in the Greater Boston area and has no plans to close any of them. (source)

  • Walgreens is laying off 10% of its corporate workforce, which is expected to impact around 504 workers. The move comes after the company reported $3 billion in net losses for the first half of fiscal 2023, with net earnings reaching $4.5 billion, the same as last year. (source)

  • Genesco, owner of mall brand Journeys, plans to close over 100 Journeys stores this year, up from its previous estimate of 60 locations, to save up to $40 million. The company's net sales dipped 7% in Q1, driven by a decrease of 13% at Journeys. Genesco is shifting the store presence of Journeys away from malls, opening 13 off-mall Journeys locations out of 25 pilot stores it has planned. (source)

  • Amazon is expanding its Just Walk Out cashierless checkout tech to events-based venues, with Six Flags theme parks and Coors Field stadium among the first locations featuring new cashierless stores. Fans at Coors Field can now purchase a beer without pulling out their ID thanks to a new age verification feature in the palm-based Amazon One system, which is super cool. (source)

🛒 CPG & Consumer

  • Le Domaine, a beauty brand created by Brad Pitt and Famille Perrin, has signed its first U.S. retail deal with Bluemercury. (source)

  • Albertsons is consolidating its private label brands under one brand, Signature SELECT. (source)

  • Pop-Tarts is releasing limited edition Frosted Strawberry Throwback Packs with vintage 1960s packaging for a limited time available from June 5 to July 17, 2023. The product will be available in grocery stores nationwide! (source)

  • Frozen food brand 8 Myles has rebranded as Myles Comfort Foods and launched a new line of mac & cheese meals with more decadent and bold flavors like Philly steak & cheese. The reformulated products are now available in 1,200 retail stores across the US, including Whole Foods Market, Target, and Sprouts. (source)

  • Functional beverage brand Heywell and grocery chain Foxtrot Market have collaborated to launch a limited-time Cherry Limeade beverage available exclusively at Foxtrot through the summer of 2023. (source)

  • Ingredient supplier, Kerry has launched Tastesense Advanced, a range of solutions aimed at the low and zero-sugar product market. The solution contains plant-derived materials and reduces carbon emissions by 30% and water usage by 45%. It is supposed to be a more cost-effective alternative to sugar and stevia with optimized flavor, better mouthfeel, and reduced off-notes. (source)

  • Perfect Snacks has launched a new line of nut butter bars, called Perfect Bar Layers, with a crispy base of blended peanut butter and cashew butter with quinoa and honey, a layer of dark chocolate or 100% fruit spread, and a sprinkle of toasted gluten-free oats on top. (source)

  • Meati Foods, a Boulder-based startup that produces a meat alternative, has laid off 17 people, or about 5% of its workforce. The company uses mushroom root as an alternative protein source and has customers including Sprouts and Birdcall fast-food restaurants. (source)

🏭 Supply Chain

  • FedEx has launched a new tool for shippers to track emissions tied to their packages’ movement throughout the carrier’s network. The platform uses near-real time package scan data across its network and facilities to estimate carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. (source)

  • Serve Robotics has partnered with Uber to deploy up to 2,000 AI-powered sidewalk delivery robots on the Uber Eats platform in multiple markets across the United States. (source)

  • Walmart is transitioning from plastic to recyclable paper mailers, right-sizing cardboard box packaging, and offering customers the option to consolidate shipping on eCommerce orders. Walmart also uses AI to identify when an item purchased online can be fulfilled from stores instead of fulfillment centers, reducing both the number of miles driven and boxes used. (source)

  • Made4net, a cloud-based Warehouse Management System and end-to-end supply chain execution software, has been acquired by Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, owner and operator of 482 IKEA stores and e-commerce in 31 counties. (source)

  • Johnson Bros. Bakery Supply has acquired Aphrodite Divine Confections, a wholesale gourmet frozen dessert manufacturing company. (source)

💻 eCommerce

  • Shopify has officially launched Shop Cash, a new rewards program that earns shoppers 1% Shop Cash on purchases made using Shop Pay. The rewards are redeemable on future purchases within the Shop app. (source)

  • eBay has expanded its Authenticity Guarantee service to streetwear, which will be vetted and verified by eBay's team through professionally trained authenticators. The authentication takes place with a physical inspection in eBay's dedicated and new state-of-the-art NJ facility. The service is now available for eligible streetwear brands sold for over $200. The authentication service is now offered in six categories, which include sneakers, watches, handbags, jewelry, trading cards, and motors. (source)

  • Sean Combs has launched Diddy Direct, a direct-to-consumer platform for his Combs Spirits portfolio, which includes CÎROC Vodkas and DeLeón Tequila. The platform allows consumers and retailers to find and purchase spirits, with an interactive map to locate local businesses and distributors. (source)

💸 Funding, Exits, M&A, and VC

  • Chamberlain Coffee, a brand created by YouTube personality Emma Chamberlain, has raised another $7 million in funding. The round was led by existing investors, including Blazar Capital, Emma Chamberlain, and United Talent Agency, and joined by growth equity firm Volition Capital, Electric Feel Ventures, L.A. Libations, and Noah Bremen. (source)

  • BBy, a startup that turns donated breast milk into powder for neonatal intensive care units, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Pioneer Fund with participation from Y Combinator, 7G Bioventures and Cathexis Ventures. (source)

  • Debut, a company focused on creating high-performing active ingredients for beauty, has raised $34 million in Series B funding led by L'Oréal's venture capital fund, BOLD. With additional participation from Fine Structure Ventures, Material Impact, GS Futures, Cavallo Ventures, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, and ACVC Partners. (source)

  • Berlin-based e-commerce aggregator SellerX has acquired Elevate Brands, a smaller US rival, in an all-share deal. The merger will create SellerX Group, which will have 80 Amazon-native brands and annual sales of ~$426 million. The combined entity will also receive a new investment of ~$64 million from existing SellerX investors, including Sofina, L Catterton and Cherry Ventures. (source)

  • Qurate Retail Group, parent company of QVC and HSN, has sold digitally native specialty retailer Zulily to investment firm Regent for an undisclosed sum. (source)

  • Funky Buddha Brewery, a family-owned brewery in Florida, has been reacquired by its founders from Constellation Brands to focus on beverage innovation, new consumer experiences, and additional product lines. (source)

  • KeHE Distributors has announced its acquisition of DPI Specialty Foods, a distributor across the western US, from Arbor Investments. (source)

  • Authentic Brands Group has acquired the intellectual property of Hunter, a heritage British brand known for its infamous Wellington boot, for a reported $125 million. The acquisition is the latest example of Authentic’s strategy to diversify its portfolio with brands outside of the US. (source)

  • Plant-based food group Neat Burger has raised $18 million in a series B funding round, which will be used to support expansion in the US. The company, which is backed by Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, has opened its first US location in New York and plans to roll out in other major cities. The funding round was led by B-Flexion, and attracted new investors including LionTree, New Theory Ventures, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and model and actress Sara Sampaio. (source)

  • Non-alcoholic spirits company Aplós raised $5.5 million in a Series A funding round led by McCarthy Capital. (source)

🧐 Interesting reads

💡 Data, reports, and trends

🐦️ Interesting Tweets

😋 Brands and things I’ve tried this week

I was finally able to get my hands on the Something & Nothing hard spritz! Their non-alch seltzers are incredible and that goes for their boozy creations as well! 10/10 would recommend!

Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, feedback, or stories or posts I missed, let me know!

Nate :)

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